Visual Novel / Doki Doki: A Brand New Day

Please note that this page and the Game Mod it covers contain MAJOR spoilers for Doki Doki Literature Club! If you have not played that game, it is strongly recommended that you do so before reading this page or playing the mod, as doing either first is very likely to ruin your experience.

All girls are best girl. Save them all.

Your pen in hand, I find new strength
Courage endowed upon me by my one and only true love
Together, let us find our way out of this crumbling world
And write a new way into a world we can be together
With a flick of their pens, the lost find their way
With our imagination, let's make this our brand new day

Doki Doki: A Brand New Day is a fan-made, still unfinished Game Mod of Doki Doki Literature Club! created by Phathom. It's a remake of the original game that introduces many changes, among them, a new storyline, a more three dimensional protagonist, lots of new backgrounds and cutscenes, a casual outfit for Monika, and ways to save the girls from their deaths.

It can be downloaded for free here.

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This mod contains examples of the following tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Unlike the main game, Natsuki's dad makes an appearance here, and you have to save Natsuki from him at one point.
• Adapted Out: The poem minigame is completely excised in this mod. The creator, however, stated that it would be implemented in a future update.
• Adaptational Heroism: Monika isn't an antagonist in this mod, and doesn't try to alter the game or delete the other girls.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In the original game, the Main Character was a Nice Guy Closet Geek. In this mod, he's a Chivalrous Pervert (who reads Hentai besides normal manga), a massive Deadpan Snarker with a dash of Large Ham, and most of all, a very devoted and protective friend/boyfriend to all the four girls. Lampshaded by Monika, who states that he's become "far less two dimensional" during the past few days.
• Adults Are Useless: Averted! After learning their daughter had depression all her life and tried to commit suicide, Sayori's parents make her see a psychiatrist.
• Artifact of Doom: The Portrait of Markov book, which drives whoever reads it to insanity.
• Art Shift: As expected, the new CGs are markedly different from the ones in the original game (unless they're edited versions of already existing ones). Also, it's pretty easy to tell which sprites and facial expressions are new and which ones are from the original game.
• Ascended Extra: Non-character example: In the original game, the Portrait of Markov book was simply a way to foreshadow the game's transition from dating sim to Psychological Horror. Here, it's an Artifact of Doom that has a huge impact on the plot, and it's the actual reason for Yuri's decaying sanity.
• Ax-Crazy: Natsuki's father, when he makes an appearance, is absolutely deranged and is attempting to kill Natsuki and the main character. He also wears a wig that resembles his daughter's hair for no discernible reason.
• Bait-and-Switch: At one point, to express how grateful she is for the Main Character supporting her and being her friend, Sayori writes him a poem. Said poem is the one she left in the game before her suicide. When the Main Character asks her what this means, she takes it from you and says that's something she wrote some time ago (before tearing it to pieces) and gives you the actual poem.
• But Thou Must!: At the beginning, you're given the choice of joining the Anime Club or the Literature Club. If you choose the former, Sayori will protest until you join the latter.
• Call-Back: Some to the original game:
  • When reading Parfait Girls with Natsuki, she tells you that in one chapter, the four girls go to an Ice Cream shop. In this mod, the Main Character takes the girls to one during the later days.
  • In one of Monika's possible dialogues in Act 3, she tells you about one time Yuri brought a bottle of wine to the Club. In this mod, she does exactly that.
• Can't Hold Her Liquor: It takes little more than a glass of wine to get Sayori drunk.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: During the first couple of days, the girls (especially Sayori) swear a lot, and the Main Character has such an obsession with cupcakes that goes way beyond Trademark Favorite Food. These elements are dropped as the story progresses.
• Freudian Threat: Natsuki often disses this to the Main Character whenever he acts too pervy, saying things like "you'll be singing soprano" or "you'll speak three pitches higher".
• Greater-Scope Villain: There's...something out there which is implied to be the actual culprit behind the events of the original game and, among other things, gave Monika her Medium Awareness as part of a ploy. Very little is known of this entity, other than it may be related to the Portrait of Markov book.
• Hey, That's My Line!: When the Main Character says at one point "Okay, everyone!", Monika immediately protests, claiming it's her Catchphrase. Natsuki reminds her of a previous conversation in which she denied having one.
• Horrifying the Horror: Even Monika is afraid of the "Portrait of Markov" book.
• Insult of Endearment: Natsuki has a thing for calling the Main Character a "Dummy". She even uses it in a poem that otherwise described how much she loves him.
• Ironic Echo:
  • During one of the first few days, the Main Character falls asleep, and is woken up by an upset Sayori who tells him that "this is not the napping club". On a later day, the Main Character uses that same line when Natsuki falls asleep in the club.
  • When Monika is surprised to see that the Main Character can cook, he cockily replies "I could write a book about all the things you don't know about me". Later, when Natsuki brings the Main Character to the school's roof and he's surprised that the school has one, she replies with "I could write a book about all the things you don't know".
• Lighter and Softer: There is much more emphasis on humor, friendship and romance than in the original game. Not to mention that you are given the option to save the girls from dying. Not that this mod is without dark or dramatic moments, mind you.
• Living Emotional Crutch: The Main Character slowly becomes this to all the girls, especially Sayori and Natsuki. Natsuki even says at one point that she only feels safe if the Main Character is near her.
• Malaproper: Monika seems to fall under this trope a lot:
  • One of the earliest and funniest examples:
  Monika: So I heard in class about this new trend people are doing when they come over to people's houses. I don't quite understand it.
  Sayori: Can you tell me what is called?
  Monika: I heard one student calling it Netflix and Chad. But who's Chad?
  • Later, when the whole group is hanging out at an ice cream shop:
  Monika: Mmmmm...Covfefe...Ehem! I mean coffee.
• Marry Them All: Unlike the main game, you're not given the option to appeal to one girl in particular (mostly since the poem minigame has been Adapted Out), and thus you romance all of them at once. This goes in hand with the mod's theme about the four girls being just equally awesome, so they don't make you choose just one.
• Murder-Suicide: From version 2.0 onwards, Yuri's death is "upgraded" into this; should you either accept or reject her love confession, she'll stab you before stabbing herself to death.
• Must Have Caffeine: Monika seems to be unable to function if she doesn't drink copious amounts of coffee every day.
• Not Me This Time: No, Monika isn't the one behind all the weird stuff this time around. Though she even wonders at some point if it's really her and she isn't aware of it.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Sayori's second suicide attempt is this. She described it as if somebody took control of her body, while she was completely aware of what was going on.
• Reconstruction: Of the Harem Genre, of all things. Yes, the main character gets to romance all the girls at once. However, he also cares A LOT for their mental and physical well being, and goes to great lengths (including risking his health, and even his life) to ensure the girls' happiness.
• Running Gag:
  • The Main Character getting punched by the girls. Sometimes by accident, others not.
  • "Classes are boring as usual".
• Shout-Out:
  • Natsuki's dad is pretty much one to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
  • At one point, you go to an ice cream shop named "Stone Cold Steve's Ice Creams". And its waiter is apparently Robbie Rotten.
  • On said ice cream shop, Monika accidentally says "Covfefe" instead of "Coffee".
  • Two of the Main Character's gifts to the girls:
    • Sayori's gift is a Salior Moon and Mamoru keychain.
    • Yuri's gift is a copy of El-Hazard: The Magnificent World.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. After foiling Sayori's suicide attempt, one of the first things the Main Character does is to tell Sayori's parents. The next time you heard about her, she tells you they make her go to a therapist twice per week, and that she has been prescribed medication to fight her depression.
• Together in Death:
  • Depending on your actions, Sayori's suicide may cause the Main Character to give into despair and slice his wrists open while laying next to her body.
  Main Character: Don't worry Sayori, I'll be joining you soon.
  • Yuri invokes this trope by stabbing the Main Character first before stabbing herself, should you choose the wrong option when confronted by her.
• Violence is the Only Option: How do you stop Yuri from stabbing herself? Why, by smashing a book against her face, that's how! Though to be fair, the thrown book was supposed to just knock the knife out of Yuri's hands, and only hits Yuri's face by accident.
• Wife-Basher Basher: When the main character gets a call about Natsuki's father abusing her, in addition to calling the cops, when he sees they haven't arrived yet, decides to take matters into his own hands. The ensuing fight is described as pretty bloody.